No excuses for this one. Rutgers is AWFUL. Harangody showed some terrible leadership with his shot selection and the rest of the team was dominated on the boards and played really poor defense. Give Rutgers credit for winning this one, they deserved it. The only positive aspect of this outcome may be a change in the future of the program. Time will tell.
The most frustrating aspects of this game come down to hustle. While the Irish certainly display really poor fundamentals with regards to boxing out and switching on defense, much of Rutgers' success on the boards and getting to the foul line just came from the fact that they wanted this one more. Don't tell me that Fred Hill is some coaching genius or that Rutgers has a strong talent advantage. This team will be lucky to win more than one or two more Big East games this season. All that mattered last night was that they outworked the Irish for 40 minutes on both ends of the floor.
Tory Jackson played the entire contest before fouling out with 19 seconds remaining. He was one of the four starters to be on the floor for at least 37 minutes. That's an insane distribution of playing time. He performed fairly well, with 11 points and 6 rebounds, but you cannot possibly convince me that a tired Jackson in crunch time is worth avoiding playing a freshman for 5 or 6 minutes in the middle of the contest.
Ben Hansbrough had a very impressive night statistically. 18 points on 6-12 shooting, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals. Unfortunately, two of his three-pointers did nothing more than reduce the margin in the final ten seconds. The high number of steals was due to Rutgers' poor decision making and ball handling ability (that's been a real issue for them all year) and Hansbrough's surprising talent for on-the-ball D. His real Achilles heel, however, comes when we need a guy to chase a shooter around get a hand in his face. Hansbrough may force the most turnovers on the team, but he isn't the guy you can call on to lock down someone like Mike Rosario.
A double-double for Abromaitis. He played 39 minutes and earned 4 fouls while going for 17 and 10. Again, I really have to question the intelligence of keeping so many guys in foul trouble on the floor. While most of Jackson's fouls came at the end of the game, Abromaitis picked up two in the first eight minutes of the contest. Most coaches would sit a star player for much of the rest of the half after that, but Mike Brey needlessly risked our number two scorer in an asinine attempt to keep a six man rotation.
Ty Nash had 6 points, 1 rebound, and 4 fouls. He is the biggest reason why Notre Dame was so dominated on the glass. Of course, my biggest beef with this has less to do with Nash's playing time (he only was on the floor for 26 minutes), but who replaced him when he came out of the game. Instead of turning to the second-best rebounder on the team, Coach Brey put in a backup point guard whose rebounding average barely bests Jack Cooley's. Carleton Scott's per-minute rebounding average puts him just below Harangody. Though he is abysmal on offense, he could hardly have performed worse than Peoples last night. Awful coaching by Brey.
If Luke Harangody plays like that for the rest of the year, Notre Dame will be better next season without him. I truly believe that. I like the comparison to Chris Thomas after last night's performance. Brey will never take the big man out for poor shot selection, which just allows him to continue to waste possessions and keep the Irish from performing to their potential as a balanced attack. He had twice as many attempts as any other player for Notre Dame, yet managed just two more points than Abromaitis and one more than Hansbrough. There were plenty of other problems with the Irish last night, but our All-American was a huge reason for why we lost to the worst team in the conference.
Off the bench, Peoples somehow earned 16 minutes. He didn't do much of anything but foul when he got the chance. I didn't catch the postgame quotes, but if there was an honest reason for why Carleton Scott didn't play until the final minute, please let me know. If this was simply an attempt to show Scott we could win without him, Mike Brey should be fired on the spot.
A lot of times, I try to diffuse some criticism after bad losses. It is a long season, but sometimes the team performs so poorly that I cannot disagree with the conclusions of many. Last night was the final straw. Though I like him a lot as a person and believe that he has done a tremendous job in bringing the program out of the mess of the '90s and putting us back on the college basketball landscape, there is no further doubt in my mind about what needs to happen at the end of the year. With any hope of the NCAA tournament gone and one of the best players in program history turning into a shadow of his former self, let me finally say it.
Fire Mike Brey.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Rutgers Questions
From On the Banks of the Raritan:
1. It's been a rough month for Rutgers. What has gone wrong during this nine game losing streak?
RU is averaging 56.6 ppg through nine Big East games and its opposition is putting up 73.6 ppg. Mike Rosario is the team's only proven scorer and he's pretty easy to shut down when opposing teams know he's the only player that can explode offensively. As a result, Rosario has been pressing. He's shooting 27.5% from the floor. The team is turning the ball over way too much, averaging around 14 a game in league games. By the time they start to take better care of the basketball, they're often down 20 or more points.1. It's been a rough month for Rutgers. What has gone wrong during this nine game losing streak?
2. How will the rest of the year go? Please tell me this isn't the second coming of 2009 DePaul.
Expectations aren't high. At least we have two games with DePaul this year. It worries me that DePaul somehow figured out to beat Marquette. Marquette has some real athletes. I hope we can manage at least a split with the Blue Demons, but a winless season in the Big East is a real possibility. Fred Hill won't be let go before the season ends, but he's losing the kids a bit more with each loss. He may have completely lost them at this point and that is sad for all involved.
3. Mike Rosario seems to be carrying the team with Echenique out. What has made him successful?
3. Mike Rosario seems to be carrying the team with Echenique out. What has made him successful?
Rosario is struggling and until we get another guy to step up and consistently put points on the board, Rosario will continue to have a tough season. Mike has been scoring of late, 15 against Georgetown and 16 against Marquette, but he's still only shooting 41% from the floor. Unfortunately, we need him to drain shots with more efficiency. Teams are content to let him go 6-18 from long range.
4. Who else can step up to the plate to provide some additional scoring?
4. Who else can step up to the plate to provide some additional scoring?
Junior Jonathan Mitchell and freshman Dane Miller have had big games. Miller went for 26 points against both Providence and Villanova while Mitchell struck for 21 against Georgetown. The problem is we can't get Rosario, Miller, and Mitchell to have solid games at the same time. Consistency is the problem. I expect one of them to lead the team in scoring while at least one of them will be a non-factor.
5. With no Echenique, does Rutgers have what it takes to stop Harangody in the post?
Hamady Ndiaye will give it all he's got, but if Notre Dame continually pounds the ball inside to Harangody it may get ugly. Harangody will likely get Ndiaye in foul trouble forcing RU to go to freshman Brian Okam. Okam will be overmatched and Harangody could have a monster game. Hopefully, Harangody will fall in love with the long-distance jumper against RU. In all likelihood, Harangody will have a great inside/out game. I just wonder who will be on hand to witness it. The team was selling $5 tickets. Never a good sign.
5. With no Echenique, does Rutgers have what it takes to stop Harangody in the post?
Rutgers Preview
Villanova-
Pomeroy Ranking- 177th
Record- 9-11 (0-8)
Best Win- Drexel (124th)
Worst Loss- Vermont (173rd)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 80-74
Key Players-
#3 Mike Rosario- 15.3 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 32.4% 3PA- Not the biggest shooting guard in the world, and not a very good shooter. Has 90 more attempts than any other guy on the team in spite of these facts. Pass it a bit, bud.
#24 Jonathan Mitchell- 10.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 34.6% 3PA- Florida transfer has added a decent perimeter shooter to the team. Only player besides Rosario to earn more than 25 minutes a game.
#5 Hamady Ndiaye-9.1 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 4.7 BPG- Bigtime senior shock blocker. Can disappear on offense at times but has blocked as many as ten shots in a game this year.
Scouting Report-
Give up plenty of offensive rebounds.
Turn the ball over a lot.
Currently struggling through a nine game losing streak.
Pomeroy Ranking- 177th
Record- 9-11 (0-8)
Best Win- Drexel (124th)
Worst Loss- Vermont (173rd)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 80-74
Key Players-
#3 Mike Rosario- 15.3 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 32.4% 3PA- Not the biggest shooting guard in the world, and not a very good shooter. Has 90 more attempts than any other guy on the team in spite of these facts. Pass it a bit, bud.
#24 Jonathan Mitchell- 10.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 34.6% 3PA- Florida transfer has added a decent perimeter shooter to the team. Only player besides Rosario to earn more than 25 minutes a game.
#5 Hamady Ndiaye-9.1 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 4.7 BPG- Bigtime senior shock blocker. Can disappear on offense at times but has blocked as many as ten shots in a game this year.
Scouting Report-
Give up plenty of offensive rebounds.
Turn the ball over a lot.
Currently struggling through a nine game losing streak.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Villanova 90, Notre Dame 72
The Irish put up a good fight for 30 minutes, but the wheels came off near the end. A huge upset turned into a road drubbing very quickly.
A strong zone defense kept the Nova guards at bay throughout the first half but ultimately the small Wildcat lineup wore us down. Not only did Antonio Pena stay in the game and avoid foul trouble, but he outrebounded Luke Harangody and picked up his first double-double in 13 contests. Our All-American was unable to control the paint against the weakest interior team in the conference. This was a great opportunity for him to stamp himself as the player of year but just 5 points and 3 rebounds in the second half allowed Villanova to run away with things.
Tory Jackson had a so-so night, but he paled in comparison to the athleticism demonstrated by Nova's backcourt. All four of Villanova's starting guards outscored Tory, as did Maalik Wayns off the bench. He dished out 7 assists to just 3 turnovers, but couldn't take the ball to the basket and missed both of his free throw attempts.
Ben Hansbrough fouled out in just 19 minutes, as all of the Wildcat guards managed to get to the charity stripe. 7 points, 2 assists, and an uncharacteristic 3 turnovers. His foul trouble, a demonstration of his lack of comparative foot speed, just made him ineffective.
Tim Abromaitis had a really tough night shooting, but did the correct thing by getting to the foul line as often as possible. He shot 8-10 from there, managing 16 points on what otherwise would have been a very disappointing night. The ability to draw fouls and continue to contribute is a very veteran move. I was impressed by him on that account.
Ty Nash had 12 and 6. Not really a poor night statistically, but he was another culprit on defense with 4 fouls. Just 23 minutes on the floor for our power forward.
Luke Harangody kept the Irish close in the first half, but disappeared when the Wildcats took control. He displayed surprisingly poor foul shooting and turned the ball over four times. When you are outrebounded by such a perimeter-based program, much of the blame has to fall on our big guy for not having a bigger presence.
Off the bench, Peoples earned 25 minutes with all that foul trouble. He played pretty well, but the comparison between the kind of quickness demonstrated by Villanova and our backup point guard is quite comical. Carleton Scott played 11 minutes, but fouled 3 times and just pulled down a pair of boards. He made an effect on the ball with 3 blocks and a steal but was another reason why Villanova was able to win the rebounding battle. Joey Brooks earned 7 minutes. Though he is the most fundamentally sound defender I've seen on the team, he is at a bit of a disadvantage against such a small lineup. Jack Cooley got in for a few minutes, as well.
Tough loss, but not unexpected. We really have to bounce back and get at least four of the next five.
A strong zone defense kept the Nova guards at bay throughout the first half but ultimately the small Wildcat lineup wore us down. Not only did Antonio Pena stay in the game and avoid foul trouble, but he outrebounded Luke Harangody and picked up his first double-double in 13 contests. Our All-American was unable to control the paint against the weakest interior team in the conference. This was a great opportunity for him to stamp himself as the player of year but just 5 points and 3 rebounds in the second half allowed Villanova to run away with things.
Tory Jackson had a so-so night, but he paled in comparison to the athleticism demonstrated by Nova's backcourt. All four of Villanova's starting guards outscored Tory, as did Maalik Wayns off the bench. He dished out 7 assists to just 3 turnovers, but couldn't take the ball to the basket and missed both of his free throw attempts.
Ben Hansbrough fouled out in just 19 minutes, as all of the Wildcat guards managed to get to the charity stripe. 7 points, 2 assists, and an uncharacteristic 3 turnovers. His foul trouble, a demonstration of his lack of comparative foot speed, just made him ineffective.
Tim Abromaitis had a really tough night shooting, but did the correct thing by getting to the foul line as often as possible. He shot 8-10 from there, managing 16 points on what otherwise would have been a very disappointing night. The ability to draw fouls and continue to contribute is a very veteran move. I was impressed by him on that account.
Ty Nash had 12 and 6. Not really a poor night statistically, but he was another culprit on defense with 4 fouls. Just 23 minutes on the floor for our power forward.
Luke Harangody kept the Irish close in the first half, but disappeared when the Wildcats took control. He displayed surprisingly poor foul shooting and turned the ball over four times. When you are outrebounded by such a perimeter-based program, much of the blame has to fall on our big guy for not having a bigger presence.
Off the bench, Peoples earned 25 minutes with all that foul trouble. He played pretty well, but the comparison between the kind of quickness demonstrated by Villanova and our backup point guard is quite comical. Carleton Scott played 11 minutes, but fouled 3 times and just pulled down a pair of boards. He made an effect on the ball with 3 blocks and a steal but was another reason why Villanova was able to win the rebounding battle. Joey Brooks earned 7 minutes. Though he is the most fundamentally sound defender I've seen on the team, he is at a bit of a disadvantage against such a small lineup. Jack Cooley got in for a few minutes, as well.
Tough loss, but not unexpected. We really have to bounce back and get at least four of the next five.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Villanova Q&A
Thanks again to Villanova Viewpoint for providing the answers below:
1. Jay Wright and Mike Brey have been continuously compared since their days in the America East. While Brey had instant success in the Big East (three straight NCAA Tournament bids, one Sweet Sixteen), the Irish have been up and down since 2003. Villanova, however, has found a lot of success (especially in the NCAA Tournament) after Jay Wright's first three years wound up in the NIT. What has made Wright so successful over the last six years?
That's a complicated answer. Probably the most significant factor was that as time went on, Wright recruited players that fit into his system and philosophy, and as more Wright-recruited players assumed leading roles, the team improved.
However, he did not inherit a bad team from Steve Lappas, his predecessor, who had been here for nine years.. Lappas had gone to the NIT in his last two years (2000 and 2001), and he left some decent players to Wright, such as Gary Buchanan and Ricky Wright (ones that were good enough to get him into the NIT during his first two years, which were still dominated by Lappas recruits). It wasn't that he inherited bad players - not at all. It was that those players were recruited to fit into Lappas's motion offense, which Wright doesn't use.
Also, Wright did very well at developing his own recruits, once they got here. His second year (2002-03), there were really high expectations, because he had his core of Lappas-holdovers, plus Allan Ray, Randy Foye, Curtis Sumpter, and Jason Fraser - his first recruiting class filled with blue-chippers. But the team never found its way, and it only reached the NIT.
Finally, there was the fact that unfortunately, Fraser's career was wrecked by injuries. He had been the top post prospect in the country, and had he become a star, we probably would have made the NCAA tournament in both 2003 (Wright's 2nd year) and 2004 (Wright's 3rd year) - given that we almost made it anyhow. Instead, Fraser's injuries forced him into a supporting role, and we never had that dominant inside presence that Wright had hoped for.
So how did we get better?
One major reason, often overlooked, was that from the day Wright arrived here in the spring of 2001, Wright courted the Villanova students, and did so in a very genuine and sincere way. He knew that having intense student support was vital to success. (To the best of my knowledge, Lappas, although a genuinely nice guy, did not make any similar overtures to students.)
Wright would serve as MC at pep rallies. He decreed that during Pavilion home games, that the players should dramatically take the floor by descending through the main corridor of the student section (you won't see this tomorrow because it's at the Wachovia Center, which is where we usually play you.) At the end of every contest, win or lose, the players walk over to the student section, and acknowledge the intense support that the students had provided with their enthusiasm.
As a result of all of these practices, Wright was - instantaneously - a hugely popular figure on campus. And during those first three years when the team was struggling, the students - who were grateful for the attention and acknowledgments, that they hadn't received under Lappas - were always 100% behind Jay. The rabid student support helped Jay's teams enormously, even when the team was mediocre. They provided an environment that helped in the recruiting process. And the enormous home-court advantage that the students' enthusiasm has generated, has been a major factor, in ensuring that we've won 35 games in a row at the Pavilion.
Ironically, the only time we've played ND at the Pavilion - January 17, 2007 - was the first game of that current 35-game winning streak.
Thanks to Wright, Ray, Foye, and Sumpter developed into stars, and with more Wright recruits who fit into his style added, the team got better. He not only recruits well, but the players show marked improvement from one year to the next. His first NCAA year was 2005, and as the team has continued success on the court, the easier it becomes to recruit.
Another aspect was (this is a Philadelphia-centric answer) that Wright launched a major charm offensive, with the very sophisticated, talent-rich, and influential Philadelphia basketball community. And not just coaches and players, but the media, and the large metro Philadelphia fan base. We have six Division I teams in the region (ourselves, St. Joseph's, Temple, La Salle, Penn, and Drexel), and Villanova had been viewed suspiciously for a while, for a host of reasons too complex to go into here.
As a result, Villanova is now once more viewed as one of the family, and the city and region is really behind the team now. Which in turn leads to more fan interest and support, which leads to more success, and it has snowballed ever since 2005.
(Note: We generally play you at the Wachovia Center, because you're Notre Dame! And ND sells tickets. Due to the recent success, filling the Wachovia Center generally hasn't been difficult. But under Lappas, and during Wright's early struggles, Notre Dame was generally played in Philadelphia, because you guys really help fill up the building! And so it was more money for the program.)
2. Scott Reynolds has been one of the better players in the conference since his freshman campaign. How has his game changed over the course of his career?
He's just remarkably talented. He's from suburban Maryland, and he was all set to head to Oklahoma, but Kelvin Sampson left, and we were able to snap him up. He's been a star player since the day he got here. Reynolds started 32 of the 33 games during his freshman year (2006-07), and he averaged 14.4 points/game as a freshman.
One factor is that he happened to arrive, the year after the 2006 season (the one where we ended up with a #1 seed and reached the Elite Eight), since we lost our two star guards, Ray and Foye, to graduation after that season. So he had a chance to play a lot, right from the get-go.
I have never seen a player better at driving into the lane (especially at his size), and who can just float up layups that nobody else can make, and they always seem to drop in.
Of course, he is already a legend in Villanova history, thanks to The Shot (the drive against Pittsburgh in the Elite Eight at the buzzer last season... he's on track to score his 2,000th point soon...
3. Besides Reynolds, who are the impact players on Villanova's offense?
We're fortunate, in that we have a lot of Wildcats who can score. Here's a capsule on each one:
The Two Coreys - Fisher and Stokes (both juniors)
Fisher is a combo guard, like Reynolds, that can play either the "one" or "two". He averages 13.1 pts, which is really good when we consider that he only averages 26.9 minutes last year. Last year, we had an eight-man rotation, with Fisher as the sixth man - a role he played so well he was named Big East Sixth Man of the Year. He can take someone off the dribble, and can also shoot from beyond the arc.
Stokes is a forward, known as the Bayonne Bomber, due to his New Jersey hometown. His role is to take three-point shots, which he does a lot of, and he's also a 90% foul shooter. He averages 8.9 pts/game, and was the seventh player in last year's rotation.
Antonio Pena, a redshirt junior, is the most improved player on the team. He was the eighth man in the rotation, who would come in to spell Dante Cunningham or if he were in foul trouble. While he's always been a good rebounder and defender, he's turned into a potent threat underneath, averaging 10.7 pts/game. He can finish with authority, and he's also become adept at passing the ball to the guards in transition for easy baskets.
Taylor King, our current sixth man, averages 9.7 pts/game. He spent his freshman year at Duke and transferred, sitting out last season. But the year of practicing with the team really has paid off, as he's the glue of the team. He's a great three-point shooter, and because he's a "four", a lot of opponents' fours aren't fast enough to cover him out on the perimeter. He also just has a nose for the ball, and dives on the floor for loose balls all the time.
Finally, Reggie Redding is a senior "two" guard, whose role, historically, was as a defender and rebounder. He was suspended for the first semester this year, but since he's come back, he's starting to score more than he used to. He's averaging 9.3 pts/game, the highest of his career.
4. How will 'Nova counter Luke Harangody in the post? Can Pena be called upon to stay in the game and, if not, will the Wildcats have to go to a zone or double-team on the Irish star?
Although we of course miss Dante Cunningham, now with Portland, we could really use him tonight against Harangody. Given that even with Dante, Harangody scored 18 points with 7 boards against us last year.
Pena averages 3.1 PFs a game, and if he gets into foul trouble early, we're going to have major problems with Harangody. Our only other post options are Mouphtaou Yarou (everyone calls him Mouph, rhymes with "roof"), a freshman and a true five, who has good size and is a decent defender. But he's not as good as Pena, and in particular, he is much less polished than Pena on offense.
Mouph also is recovering from hepatitis, which he contracted right before the Puerto Rico Shootout at Thanksgiving, and he missed 11 games due to it. Since he's come back, he's still not 100%, and he's a 15-minute player right now, not more than that.
We also have our 11th man, Maurice Sutton, a redshirt freshman who needs to get bigger. Sutton's role is to block shots and come in when Pena is in foul trouble, to absorb the five fouls that we can't afford Pena to get. But that's all we can ask out of him. If Sutton has to play a lot tonight, we're in serious trouble with Harangody.
Jay likes to play man-to-man defense, but he'll adjust if necessary, and order a zone. Also, I could totally see using King in particular to help double-team Harangody from the four spot, especially if your gunners aren't dropping in threes in the beginning. There's also the possibility of using both Pena and Mouph at the same time, given Harangody's skills.
5. What is the ceiling for this Villanova team? Are they a legitimate national title contender?
This is a tough question, because of course, I'd like to think that we are a legitimate national title contender. This team is arguably better than the one that went to the Final Four last year, despite the loss of three starters, including an NBA player in Cunningham. That having been said, nobody (certainly, myself included) expected that we'd start the year 18-1 (it's the best start since 1950-51) and 7-0 in Big East play (the best ever in school history.
The big factor, of course, was that we ended up getting Reynolds back for another year, since the NBA mock drafts indicated he wouldn't be drafted.
Also, the rest of the players (Pena especially) have really improved, and Wright added the newly eligible King as the sixth man. Finally, Wright brought in another class, about which recruiting analysts raved.
Last year, we used seven guys plus Pena (and Pena wasn't anywhere near as good as he is now). We now can go 10, 11 if we count Sutton. The freshmen Wright brought in (Mouph, point guard Maalik Wayns, wings Dominic Cheek and Isaiah Armwood) have all made significant contributions to the team. Wayns is a true point who's really, really fast. Armwood's a superb defender, and Cheek just scored 17 points in a blowout win over Rutgers last week.
The big weakness is in the low post. You guys are going to give us trouble with Harangody. If we happen to draw teams in the NCAA tournament with dominant post players, that's a big matchup problem for us. But if we draw smaller, quicker teams, we have a real chance at another deep NCAA run.
1. Jay Wright and Mike Brey have been continuously compared since their days in the America East. While Brey had instant success in the Big East (three straight NCAA Tournament bids, one Sweet Sixteen), the Irish have been up and down since 2003. Villanova, however, has found a lot of success (especially in the NCAA Tournament) after Jay Wright's first three years wound up in the NIT. What has made Wright so successful over the last six years?
That's a complicated answer. Probably the most significant factor was that as time went on, Wright recruited players that fit into his system and philosophy, and as more Wright-recruited players assumed leading roles, the team improved.
However, he did not inherit a bad team from Steve Lappas, his predecessor, who had been here for nine years.. Lappas had gone to the NIT in his last two years (2000 and 2001), and he left some decent players to Wright, such as Gary Buchanan and Ricky Wright (ones that were good enough to get him into the NIT during his first two years, which were still dominated by Lappas recruits). It wasn't that he inherited bad players - not at all. It was that those players were recruited to fit into Lappas's motion offense, which Wright doesn't use.
Also, Wright did very well at developing his own recruits, once they got here. His second year (2002-03), there were really high expectations, because he had his core of Lappas-holdovers, plus Allan Ray, Randy Foye, Curtis Sumpter, and Jason Fraser - his first recruiting class filled with blue-chippers. But the team never found its way, and it only reached the NIT.
Finally, there was the fact that unfortunately, Fraser's career was wrecked by injuries. He had been the top post prospect in the country, and had he become a star, we probably would have made the NCAA tournament in both 2003 (Wright's 2nd year) and 2004 (Wright's 3rd year) - given that we almost made it anyhow. Instead, Fraser's injuries forced him into a supporting role, and we never had that dominant inside presence that Wright had hoped for.
So how did we get better?
One major reason, often overlooked, was that from the day Wright arrived here in the spring of 2001, Wright courted the Villanova students, and did so in a very genuine and sincere way. He knew that having intense student support was vital to success. (To the best of my knowledge, Lappas, although a genuinely nice guy, did not make any similar overtures to students.)
Wright would serve as MC at pep rallies. He decreed that during Pavilion home games, that the players should dramatically take the floor by descending through the main corridor of the student section (you won't see this tomorrow because it's at the Wachovia Center, which is where we usually play you.) At the end of every contest, win or lose, the players walk over to the student section, and acknowledge the intense support that the students had provided with their enthusiasm.
As a result of all of these practices, Wright was - instantaneously - a hugely popular figure on campus. And during those first three years when the team was struggling, the students - who were grateful for the attention and acknowledgments, that they hadn't received under Lappas - were always 100% behind Jay. The rabid student support helped Jay's teams enormously, even when the team was mediocre. They provided an environment that helped in the recruiting process. And the enormous home-court advantage that the students' enthusiasm has generated, has been a major factor, in ensuring that we've won 35 games in a row at the Pavilion.
Ironically, the only time we've played ND at the Pavilion - January 17, 2007 - was the first game of that current 35-game winning streak.
Thanks to Wright, Ray, Foye, and Sumpter developed into stars, and with more Wright recruits who fit into his style added, the team got better. He not only recruits well, but the players show marked improvement from one year to the next. His first NCAA year was 2005, and as the team has continued success on the court, the easier it becomes to recruit.
Another aspect was (this is a Philadelphia-centric answer) that Wright launched a major charm offensive, with the very sophisticated, talent-rich, and influential Philadelphia basketball community. And not just coaches and players, but the media, and the large metro Philadelphia fan base. We have six Division I teams in the region (ourselves, St. Joseph's, Temple, La Salle, Penn, and Drexel), and Villanova had been viewed suspiciously for a while, for a host of reasons too complex to go into here.
As a result, Villanova is now once more viewed as one of the family, and the city and region is really behind the team now. Which in turn leads to more fan interest and support, which leads to more success, and it has snowballed ever since 2005.
(Note: We generally play you at the Wachovia Center, because you're Notre Dame! And ND sells tickets. Due to the recent success, filling the Wachovia Center generally hasn't been difficult. But under Lappas, and during Wright's early struggles, Notre Dame was generally played in Philadelphia, because you guys really help fill up the building! And so it was more money for the program.)
2. Scott Reynolds has been one of the better players in the conference since his freshman campaign. How has his game changed over the course of his career?
He's just remarkably talented. He's from suburban Maryland, and he was all set to head to Oklahoma, but Kelvin Sampson left, and we were able to snap him up. He's been a star player since the day he got here. Reynolds started 32 of the 33 games during his freshman year (2006-07), and he averaged 14.4 points/game as a freshman.
One factor is that he happened to arrive, the year after the 2006 season (the one where we ended up with a #1 seed and reached the Elite Eight), since we lost our two star guards, Ray and Foye, to graduation after that season. So he had a chance to play a lot, right from the get-go.
I have never seen a player better at driving into the lane (especially at his size), and who can just float up layups that nobody else can make, and they always seem to drop in.
Of course, he is already a legend in Villanova history, thanks to The Shot (the drive against Pittsburgh in the Elite Eight at the buzzer last season... he's on track to score his 2,000th point soon...
3. Besides Reynolds, who are the impact players on Villanova's offense?
We're fortunate, in that we have a lot of Wildcats who can score. Here's a capsule on each one:
The Two Coreys - Fisher and Stokes (both juniors)
Fisher is a combo guard, like Reynolds, that can play either the "one" or "two". He averages 13.1 pts, which is really good when we consider that he only averages 26.9 minutes last year. Last year, we had an eight-man rotation, with Fisher as the sixth man - a role he played so well he was named Big East Sixth Man of the Year. He can take someone off the dribble, and can also shoot from beyond the arc.
Stokes is a forward, known as the Bayonne Bomber, due to his New Jersey hometown. His role is to take three-point shots, which he does a lot of, and he's also a 90% foul shooter. He averages 8.9 pts/game, and was the seventh player in last year's rotation.
Antonio Pena, a redshirt junior, is the most improved player on the team. He was the eighth man in the rotation, who would come in to spell Dante Cunningham or if he were in foul trouble. While he's always been a good rebounder and defender, he's turned into a potent threat underneath, averaging 10.7 pts/game. He can finish with authority, and he's also become adept at passing the ball to the guards in transition for easy baskets.
Taylor King, our current sixth man, averages 9.7 pts/game. He spent his freshman year at Duke and transferred, sitting out last season. But the year of practicing with the team really has paid off, as he's the glue of the team. He's a great three-point shooter, and because he's a "four", a lot of opponents' fours aren't fast enough to cover him out on the perimeter. He also just has a nose for the ball, and dives on the floor for loose balls all the time.
Finally, Reggie Redding is a senior "two" guard, whose role, historically, was as a defender and rebounder. He was suspended for the first semester this year, but since he's come back, he's starting to score more than he used to. He's averaging 9.3 pts/game, the highest of his career.
4. How will 'Nova counter Luke Harangody in the post? Can Pena be called upon to stay in the game and, if not, will the Wildcats have to go to a zone or double-team on the Irish star?
Although we of course miss Dante Cunningham, now with Portland, we could really use him tonight against Harangody. Given that even with Dante, Harangody scored 18 points with 7 boards against us last year.
Pena averages 3.1 PFs a game, and if he gets into foul trouble early, we're going to have major problems with Harangody. Our only other post options are Mouphtaou Yarou (everyone calls him Mouph, rhymes with "roof"), a freshman and a true five, who has good size and is a decent defender. But he's not as good as Pena, and in particular, he is much less polished than Pena on offense.
Mouph also is recovering from hepatitis, which he contracted right before the Puerto Rico Shootout at Thanksgiving, and he missed 11 games due to it. Since he's come back, he's still not 100%, and he's a 15-minute player right now, not more than that.
We also have our 11th man, Maurice Sutton, a redshirt freshman who needs to get bigger. Sutton's role is to block shots and come in when Pena is in foul trouble, to absorb the five fouls that we can't afford Pena to get. But that's all we can ask out of him. If Sutton has to play a lot tonight, we're in serious trouble with Harangody.
Jay likes to play man-to-man defense, but he'll adjust if necessary, and order a zone. Also, I could totally see using King in particular to help double-team Harangody from the four spot, especially if your gunners aren't dropping in threes in the beginning. There's also the possibility of using both Pena and Mouph at the same time, given Harangody's skills.
5. What is the ceiling for this Villanova team? Are they a legitimate national title contender?
This is a tough question, because of course, I'd like to think that we are a legitimate national title contender. This team is arguably better than the one that went to the Final Four last year, despite the loss of three starters, including an NBA player in Cunningham. That having been said, nobody (certainly, myself included) expected that we'd start the year 18-1 (it's the best start since 1950-51) and 7-0 in Big East play (the best ever in school history.
The big factor, of course, was that we ended up getting Reynolds back for another year, since the NBA mock drafts indicated he wouldn't be drafted.
Also, the rest of the players (Pena especially) have really improved, and Wright added the newly eligible King as the sixth man. Finally, Wright brought in another class, about which recruiting analysts raved.
Last year, we used seven guys plus Pena (and Pena wasn't anywhere near as good as he is now). We now can go 10, 11 if we count Sutton. The freshmen Wright brought in (Mouph, point guard Maalik Wayns, wings Dominic Cheek and Isaiah Armwood) have all made significant contributions to the team. Wayns is a true point who's really, really fast. Armwood's a superb defender, and Cheek just scored 17 points in a blowout win over Rutgers last week.
The big weakness is in the low post. You guys are going to give us trouble with Harangody. If we happen to draw teams in the NCAA tournament with dominant post players, that's a big matchup problem for us. But if we draw smaller, quicker teams, we have a real chance at another deep NCAA run.
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